Most applications are nowhere nearly as complicated as AOLserver and OpenACS. It is very hard to compare it to other types of precompiled applications. Compiling is the easy part. If you can't get over that minor hump in the road, you will quickly run into the difficulty of providing a secure and useful application.
I cannot stress more that you will quickly run into major trouble if you try to shortcut the process of installing OpenACS. Please consider this: this project is filled with many very talented developers. Yet, even though there are continuous calls for an easier installation, they never get done. There is a reason for this, and it isn't laziness.
Consider one simple example. I decided to compile AOLserver in my home directory to test out some feature. I thought I had discovered a massive bug where the server would run for a few requests then crash with weird errors. I wasted a day tracking down the fact that the library loader was finding the wrong version of Tcl. It used the correct version for building, but found something else at runtime. This could easily happen to anyone.
But configuration is significantly more complicated for all parts of this system. Most software components we use on our servers require no configuration, or very little. Of course as soon as you want to tweak one of these you run into the exact same issues: little documentation, no examples, don't know what to ask for or search for unless you are already an expert.
This is why I gave the example of App-install. It boils down all these decisions into a single file for each installation. The file is supposed to be written by an expert and shared with others. But it is relatively realistic: real developers compile and install even more components than just the basics. The App-install concept is also a form of documentation and an aid to recovery, or more optimistically, to duplication.
I agree about the documentation. I try to write examples of using any code I write. I actually need to do this just to test my code, so it isn't a major problem to provide examples. In fact, I like to write working examples that provide something beyond dry technical usage.
For example, over the last week I wrote a tic-tac-toe game to demonstrate a few features of a tcl templating system, and another few pages to demonstrate the use of [format] in and [assign] in the same system:
http://junom.com/document/twt/view/www/
Each file in that directory can be viewed except the .tcl files. So I simply add on a ~ to the end so your browser will display it as plain text. Examples are nice, working examples are even better.
But when I hear users asking for a download of OpenACS that just runs from a static install, I wonder how much they actually value the product. I know you can go in to Office Depot and buy a bunch of canned contracts for a few dollars, but it isn't really the same as getting good advice from an attorney. Usually the more appealing this seems to a person, the more they need a real professional.
In case I wandered around this too much, I'll stay it briefly: compiling is easy compared to configuration. Configuration is a breeze compared to running or developing an application server. Better to have a few speed bumps along the way, but the process could still be a little easier.
You are still in good company with everyone here wishing that installation was easier (and faster).
